MBOMBELA – The international campaign challenges violence against women and girls from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until December 10, Human Rights Day.
To raise awareness of the scourge, GRIP joined hands with Hillicks Model and Talent Agency (HMT).
Daleen Hillicks from HMT says they have been wanting to get involved with GRIP for a long time. They finally got the opportunity to make a worthwhile contribution with a recent photo shoot. “We have the models,” she said.
Sakina Mohamed from GRIP said she wanted to show people the sequence and results of abuse. “People don’t realise how they maim people. And it happens across social structures. Whether you are rich, poor, lesbian… women are always vulnerable.”
“I never realised what a big problem verbal and emotional abuse is.”
Mohamed uses an example of a stay-at-home mom, made to believe she is stupid and worthless if she is told it often enough. And even little girls being verbally bullied at school. These are the realities, something the shoot brought home to all involved. For some it was an extra emotional experience given their own pasts.
The models ranged from six years old to 48. Hillicks prepared them carefully. “I made sure they knew the results would not be nice ‘model’ pics.”
Make-up artists Jaime van der Merwe and Kelly da Silva as well as photographers André and Erna Meintjes did the shoot for free.
They started with the models not made up, showing messages written on their hands. When the make-up artists started their work, it looked disturbingly real. “At times I had to walk away,” Hillicks said. “It felt so real, I got tears in my eyes.”
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Some things were also hard for the models, such as a mom and son pair who had to depict violence against each other, pretending to look as though violence was being perpetrated. “It was good,” Hillicks added.
“I learned so much. There are so many people out there who don’t realise this is…” “The lived experience for a lot of people,” Mohamed completes the thought.
Mohamed adds that it is particularly hard for victims to talk about domestic abuse. “It happens where you are supposed to be protected. People are also told not to talk about it. And they are ashamed, they don’t want people to know.”
The prayer day will take place at the auditorium at Mbombela Stadium from 10:00 to 12:00. “We cannot be living like this with violence which permeates through society,” Mohamed said. “We need spirituality. We cannot be such a violent society. We have to break the silence. It is all our responsi-bility.”
Enquiries: GRIP on 013-752-4404.
Also visit GRIP’s website or phone 083-310-1321.
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